The Interaction Between Gender and Diabetes Mellitus in the Coronary Heart Disease Risk

Background: Cardiovascular disease (CVD) despite the advances in medical management keeps on as the primary cause of morbidity and mortality for both genders in Western societies. Sex differences though modify the clinical picture as well as the effectiveness of treatment. Methods and Results: In this literature review article we searched publications in Englishlanguage on MEDLINE and the Cochrane Database from the beginning of the databases to January 2016. Among the specific key words and phrases we used were Diabetes Mellitus; Gender; Coronary artery disease; Stroke and Cardiovascular disease. Various studies have found that diabetic women have increased risk of coronary heart disease than their male counterparts; however, further research into this field has questioned this finding and there is much controversy among many researchers. Women have a different risk factor profile, are usually treated less effectively than men, and have a variance in the levels of sex hormones throughout their life which complicate the study and understanding of the mechanisms involved in insulin resistance, diabetes mellitus and cardiovascular risk profile. Conclusion: The connection between diabetes mellitus and cardiovascular disease is variable according to gender and further studies are needed to elucidate the lenient differentiations in gender specific hormones, risk factor profile, and therapeutic implications between genders.